How do you deal with hunger pangs? For some these are only a minor nuisance, but for others they signal the start of that dreaded trip down the proverbial slippery slope of weight gain. With that in mind I offer the following suggestion to those of you who struggle with unhappy and noisy tummies. Do you remember when Pac Man was the video craze? It was one of the first computer games developed and, as you may recall, Pac Man would move around the screen gobbling up as many objects as he could under your direction. So when you find yourself at the mercy of those annoying hunger pangs, picture the following scene.

Whenever you find yourself at the mercy of a growling stomach, imagine that there is this little fat-eating Pac Man running around in your stomach eating away all of that unwanted fat. Try to imagine that this is what is happening when you have that feeling. So whenever you experience those hunger pangs, replace that negative physical feeling of discomfort with the more positive feeling of losing weight. I refer to this process as mental gymnastics. But it’s really only just a simple change of mind. The end result, however, is turning a negative experience into a positive experience. As silly as this Pac Man imagery may sound, for many of my patients this simple change of mind significantly reduced their physical discomfort with hunger pangs. I can’t emphasize enough the power of mental imagery. I suggest you join the Pac and give this a try.